The present invention relates to constructing a multi-segment print or fax job from multiple local or remote sources on a network using a network interface to identify print job segments, location of segments, and print characteristics of segments, as well as selecting a printing device.
As networks and systems become more integrated and more complex, the amount and speed of information flow between users creates a need for more versatile and more efficient control over the information flow process. Current systems for sending a document or set of documents to a remote station require the operator to know designated limitations beforehand or require the operator to scroll through or review various features and limitations related to the document being sent or related to the device or receiver requirements at the receiving station.
Protocols defining integrated system behavior for devices such as printers, scanners, workstations and facsimiles, are well known. These protocols define how the systems should integrate across networks. Operational transparency across networks and device platforms, provide users with an increasingly integrated and transparent system environment. In this environment the manipulation of information (such as documents) is transparent to users as a result of the various network protocols that define the manner in which devices manipulate information.
In the prior art, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,786, in a network environment, a stream of data, including various job related instructions and image data, expressed in terms of a page description language is captured, decomposed and stored for printing. A network job can have its origin in a remote client, such as a workstation, or a print server with a storage device. In either case, jobs provided at an image input terminal are preferably stored in a mass memory, such as the multiple disk arrangement.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,735, stored jobs are arranged in a job or system file in anticipation of being printed at an image output terminal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,162 discloses a document management and production system in which documents are represented as collections of logical components or objects, which objects may be combined and physically mapped onto a page-by-page layout. Objects may also contain further data ("attributes") specifying logical or physical relationships to other objects or to the document as a whole, characteristics relating to the appearance of the content, or access restrictions.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,381 discloses a method which facilitates "demand printing" by use of one or more control sheets. In one example, a control sheet, including machine readable code, such as bar code, can be developed to reference a location at which each segment is stored in an electronic printing machine with a scanner. To form a document of the segments, the control sheets are scanned, in a predetermined order and read by the scanner. In response to the reading, the segments are retrieved from their respective storage locations, some of which locations may be remote, and printed in the predetermined order.
The concept of electronically storing a plurality of segments in a single folder, and printing those segments from the folder, has been used in both distributed and centralized printing systems. For example, a Xerox.RTM. 6085 workstation is adapted to store a plurality of documents in a folder for printing at a suitable network printer. Additionally, a DocuTech printer, manufactured by Xerox Corporation, is capable of printing two segments from a single print file. In operation, the first segment is delivered to a first output area and the second segment is delivered to a second output area so that hand collation is required.
It is also known as disclosed in pending application Ser. No. 07/130,929, D/92365, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, to utilize a user interface to automatically distribute information to a receiver on a network using devices (such as printers and facsimile machines) and communication channels (such as electronic mail) defined in a receiver profile.
A difficulty with the aforementioned systems, however, is the inability to construct a job from several electronic documents dispersed on a network using a standard network user interface and to be able to designate or select a given printer device on the network to complete the job. The electronic documents can exist locally or remotely and can be designated with specific attributes, combined at the designated printer, and reproduced in a common package.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved user interface with the capability to selectively tailor a job based upon multiple local or remote document sources to be completed at a designated remote finishing stations. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a technique to initiate selection of multiple remote electronic documents for combination with selective attributes in a given format at a printing station for reproduction in a common document. Still another object of the present invention is to provide user selected document identifiers for assembling remote documents at a selected finishing station for printing with designated attributes. Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features characterizing the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.